Tribute to some favorite Latino authors

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For National Hispanic Heritage month last September, we paid tribute to our favorite Latino authors. Among them are those with deep roots in South Texas as well as points north, east and west. Their works have captured the U.S. Latino experience, and their books have become celebrated classics, book club favorites or required classroom reading for students from middle school to grad school. This list of U.S.-based writers is by no means complete. We expect you'll have additions, as the roster of published Latino writers continues to grow. But we hope you agree their works are worth reading and re-reading. We'll begin with one of the godfathers of Chicano literature.

For National Hispanic Heritage month last September, we paid tribute to our favorite Latino authors. Among them are those with deep roots in South Texas as well as points north, east and west. Their works have ... more

Photo: COURTESY PHOTO

For National Hispanic Heritage month last September, we paid... Photo-5265943.70913 - San Antonio Express-News

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Rudolfo Anaya.
His most famous work was published in 1972, and this year "Bless Me, Ultima" finally made it to big screen.
Though critics delivered positive reviews, "Ultima" didn't get a lot of screen time. But like the book,
it deserves a second look. Anaya has been called the founder of modern Chicano literature and "Ultima" has
been largely responsible for that. But in 1992, Newsweek called "Albuquerque" an example not only of
"the new multicultural writing, but the new American writing." Anaya has written many other books,
including a detective series, and he still lives in Albuquerque, which he calls "the center of the universe."
– Elaine Ayala less

Rudolfo Anaya. His most famous work was published in 1972, and this year "Bless Me, Ultima" finally made it to big screen. Though critics delivered positive reviews, "Ultima" didn't get a lot of screen ... more

Photo: EN

Rudolfo Anaya.
His most famous work was published in 1972, and... Photo-413707.70913 - San Antonio Express-News

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Sandra Cisneros.
With “The House on Mango Street,” Sandra Cisneros brought a new voice into American
literature: the young Latina. The book, considered an American classic, is taught in high school
and college classes all over the country. Cisneros, who grew up in Chicago and has called San Antonio
home since the 1980s, is a recipient of the prestigious MacArthur Fellowship, known as the “Genius Award," as well as the Texas Medal of Art. She is the founder of the Macondo Foundation,
which supports young Hispanic writers. Her other books include the poetry collection “Hairs/Pelitos”
and the biographical novel “Caramelo.”
– Steve Bennett less

Sandra Cisneros. With “The House on Mango Street,” Sandra Cisneros brought a new voice into American literature: the young Latina. The book, considered an American classic, is taught in high school and ... more

Carmen Tafolla. An acclaimed teacher and poet, Carmen Tafolla grew up on San Antonio’s West Side and has become a leading scholar
of Latino studies. It’s fitting that she was named the city’s first Poet Laureate in 2012.
Winner of numerous awards, including the prestigious Americas Award,
presented to her at the Library of Congress in 2010, and two Tomas Rivera Book Awards,
Tafolla has authored more than 20 books, from the groundbreaking Chicana poetry collection
“Curandera” to the short story collection “Holy Tortilla and a Pot of Beans.”
– Steve Bennett less

Carmen Tafolla. An acclaimed teacher and poet, Carmen Tafolla grew up on San Antonio’s West Side and has become a leading scholar of Latino studies. It’s fitting that she was named the city’s first Poet ... more

Junot Díaz. A Dominican native, Junot Díaz won the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for his novel “The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao.” He followed it up with a sequel of sorts, “This is How You Lose Her,” which was a National Book Award finalist. Diaz also was a MacArthur “Genius” fellow. He teaches creative writing at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
– Steve Bennett less

Junot Díaz. A Dominican native, Junot Díaz won the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for his novel “The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao.” He followed it up with a sequel of sorts, “This is How You Lose Her,” which ... more

Luis Alberto Urrea. Born in Tijuana, Mexico, to a Mexican father and an American mother, Luis Alberto Urrea has published 13 books
in all the major genres, including his non-fiction book “The Devil’s Highway,” a finalist for the 2005
Pulitzer Prize, and the acclaimed novel “The Hummingbird’s Daughter.” His most recent novel,
“Into the Beautiful North,” imagines a small town in Mexico where all the men have immigrated to the United States.
A group of young women, after seeing the film "The Magnificent Seven," set out to bring them back.
– Steve Bennett less

Luis Alberto Urrea. Born in Tijuana, Mexico, to a Mexican father and an American mother, Luis Alberto Urrea has published 13 books in all the major genres, including his non-fiction book “The Devil’s ... more

Photo: Courtesy, Photo By Nicole Waite

Luis Alberto Urrea. Born in Tijuana, Mexico, to a Mexican father... Photo-1949929.70913 - San Antonio Express-News

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Tomás Rivera died in 1983 but left an indelible mark on the Chicano literary canon with his 1971 semi-autobiographical "Y no se lo Tragó la Tierra . . . And the Earth Did Not Devour Him," which has been hailed as the Chicano "Grapes of Wrath." He was born into a migrant farmworking family and taught in public schools in San Antonio and his hometown of Crystal City. He earned a Ph.D. in romance languages and literature from the University of Oklahoma and held administrative positions at the University of Texas at San Antonio and El Paso and became a chancellor of the University of California, Riverside. Rivera has been paid tributes throughout the Southwest with centers, professorships, literary prizes and a plaza named in his honor.– Elaine Ayala less

Tomás Rivera died in 1983 but left an indelible mark on the Chicano literary canon with his 1971 semi-autobiographical "Y no se lo Tragó la Tierra . . . And the Earth Did Not Devour Him," which has been ... more

Tomás Rivera died in 1983 but left an indelible mark on the... Photo-4555757.70913 - San Antonio Express-News

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Gloria Anzaldúa was one of most celebrated Latina thinkers ever to come out of South Texas and was nationally recognized for her contributions to Chicana cultural theory, feminist theory and queer theory and is credited for introducing the term "mestizaje" to scholarship. She co-edited the landmark, "This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color" with Cherríe Moraga and is best remembered for her book, "Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza." An online biography notes that Anzaldúa used "a unique blend of eight languages, two variations of English and six of Spanish. In many ways, by writing in 'Spanglish,' Anzaldúa creates a daunting task for the non-bilingual reader to decipher the full meaning of the text. However, there is irony in the mainstream reader's feeling of frustration and irritation. These are the very emotions Anzaldúa has dealt with throughout her life, as she has struggled to communicate in a country where non-English speakers are shunned and punished." She died in 2004.– Elaine Ayala less

Gloria Anzaldúa was one of most celebrated Latina thinkers ever to come out of South Texas and was nationally recognized for her contributions to Chicana cultural theory, feminist theory and queer theory and ... more

Photo: AP

Gloria Anzaldúa was one of most celebrated Latina thinkers ever... Photo-5265983.70913 - San Antonio Express-News

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Américo Paredes, a poet, musicologist, scholar and novelist, wrote the landmark, "With His Pistol in His Hand: A Border Ballad and its Hero," but the pioneering author and educator at the University of Texas at Austin wrote extensively for more than six decades, as this bibliography illustrates.
http://www.lib.utexas.edu/benson/paredes/bibliography.html
He began writing in the mid-1930s, taught legions of students and documented the contributions of Chicano writers and poets. He got to see "Pistol," written in 1958, become a PBS movie as "The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez." It's based on an actual story of borderland injustice that was told in corridos and oral tradition.– Elaine Ayala less

Américo Paredes, a poet, musicologist, scholar and novelist, wrote the landmark, "With His Pistol in His Hand: A Border Ballad and its Hero," but the pioneering author and educator at the University of Texas ... more

John Phillip Santos, the first Latino Rhodes Scholar, is a San Antonio native and distinguished scholar
in Mestizo Cultural Studies at the University of Texas at San Antonio. A longtime documentary
filmmaker for CBS and PBS, Santos was a National Book Award finalist for his memoir
“Places Left Unfinished at the Time of Creation,” which he followed up with
“The Farthest Home Is in an Empire of Fire.”– Steve Bennett less

John Phillip Santos, the first Latino Rhodes Scholar, is a San Antonio native and distinguished scholar in Mestizo Cultural Studies at the University of Texas at San Antonio. A longtime documentary ... more

John Phillip Santos, the first Latino Rhodes Scholar, is a San... Photo-390751.70913 - San Antonio Express-News

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Isabel Allende, the author of such best-sellers as "The House of the Spirits" and "Daughter of Fortune," has written 20 books that have been translated into 35 languages. Allende has sold more than 57 million books. They've been adapted for movies, plays, musicals, operas and ballets. She created the Isabel Allende Foundation in 1992 to empower women and girls worldwide. A native of Chile, Allende's cousin was President Salvador Allende, who died in 1973 in a military coup led by dictator Gen. Augusto Pinochet. She fled Chile in 1975 and ultimately immigrated to the United States.– Elaine Ayala less

Isabel Allende, the author of such best-sellers as "The House of the Spirits" and "Daughter of Fortune," has written 20 books that have been translated into 35 languages. Allende has sold more than 57 million ... more

Isabel Allende, the author of such best-sellers as "The... Photo-676320.70913 - San Antonio Express-News

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Victor Villaseñor's best-known works are the memoir "Burro Genius," and the highly acclaimed novel, "Rain of Gold," a family saga set during the Mexican Revolution. The Los Angeles Times compared his early novel,"Macho!" to "the best of John Steinbeck."– Elaine Ayala less

Victor Villaseñor's best-known works are the memoir "Burro Genius," and the highly acclaimed novel, "Rain of Gold," a family saga set during the Mexican Revolution. The Los Angeles Times compared his early ... more

Photo: Brett Coomer, Staff

Victor Villaseñor's best-known works are the memoir... Photo-3746965.70913 - San Antonio Express-News

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Domingo Martinez. Raised in Brownsville, Domingo Martinez is the Seattle-based author of the memoir
“The Boy Kings of Texas,” which was a finalist for the 2013 National Book Award,
the 2013 Pushcart Prize and was a Gold Medal Winner for the Independent Publisher Book Awards.
– Steve Bennett less

Domingo Martinez. Raised in Brownsville, Domingo Martinez is the Seattle-based author of the memoir “The Boy Kings of Texas,” which was a finalist for the 2013 National Book Award, the 2013 Pushcart ... more

Julia Alvarez is the Dominican American author of the highly popular "How the García Girls Lost their Accents," about four sisters' immigration experiences, and "In the Time of the Butterflies," about the death of the Mirabal sisters during the Trujillo dictatorship in the Dominican Republic. It was made into a movie produced by and starring Salma Hayek.– Elaine Ayala less

Julia Alvarez is the Dominican American author of the highly popular "How the García Girls Lost their Accents," about four sisters' immigration experiences, and "In the Time of the Butterflies," about the ... more

Julia Alvarez is the Dominican American author of the highly... Photo-4397518.70913 - San Antonio Express-News

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Dagoberto Gilb’s substantial body of work includes fiction and non-fiction, including “The Flowers,” “Gritos,”
“Woodcuts of Women,” “The Last Known Residence of Mickey Acuña” and “The Magic of Blood,” which won the PEN/Hemingway
Award. He is also the editor of “Hecho en Tejas: An Anthology of Texas Mexican Literature” (2006).
– Steve Bennett less

Dagoberto Gilb’s substantial body of work includes fiction and non-fiction, including “The Flowers,” “Gritos,” “Woodcuts of Women,” “The Last Known Residence of Mickey Acuña” and “The ... more

Oscar Hijuelos.
The first Latino to receive the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction — for 1989’s “The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love”
— was born in 1951 in New York City to Cuban immigrant parents. That fact has greatly influenced his large body
of work. In addition to his popular works of fiction, which include “Empress of the Splendid Season” (2000) and
“Dark Dude” (2008), Hijuelos published a memoir about his struggle as a Latino in the United States,
“Thoughts Without Cigarettes,” in 2011.
– Steve Bennett less

Oscar Hijuelos. The first Latino to receive the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction — for 1989’s “The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love” — was born in 1951 in New York City to Cuban immigrant parents. That ... more

Photo: Les Todd, Duke Photography

Oscar Hijuelos.
The first Latino to receive the Pulitzer Prize... Photo-2408685.70913 - San Antonio Express-News

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Reyna Grande, author of "Across a Hundred Mountains," "Dancing with Butterflies" and "The Distance Between Us," has won an American Book Award, the El Premio Aztlán Literary Award, the Latino Books into Movies Award and an International Latino Book Award. She also was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Awards. "Distance," a coming-of-age story, was a National Book Circle Critics Award finalist. The Los Angeles Times called it "the 'Angela's Ashes' of the modern Mexican immigrant experience. She came to this country as a child and as an undocumented immigrant and was the first in her family to graduate from college.– Elaine Ayala less

Reyna Grande, author of "Across a Hundred Mountains," "Dancing with Butterflies" and "The Distance Between Us," has won an American Book Award, the El Premio Aztlán Literary Award, the Latino Books into Movies ... more